Jobs

I should start by saying I am a teacher. I think I always have been and probably always will be. I babysat other children at an age when I should've still needed a babysitter! I shudder to think that in this day and time either my parents or the parents of the children I was watching would probably be arrested. My mother tells a story of one of her close friends telling her that I taught her younger children how to pretend and play, and this was when I was in the 3rd or 4th grade. I started my teaching career in special education. I knew from the beginning of my college course work that I had a desire to work with the youngest students, but at the time there was no birth-kindergarten degree or licensure, and early intervention was in its infancy. As soon as I became aware of the possibility of adding birth-kindergarten onto my teaching license, I was ready to do it. A good friend of mine helped me with the necessary paperwork and I was ready to go,according to the state of North Carolina. I then spent several very good years working in early intervention. From my point of view this was the best job ever, a combination of my love for special education and the birth-kindergarten population. Unfortunately, the company I worked for decided to follow the money, and teaching young children is usually not incredibly profitable, and eliminated the entire intervention unit. So I flitted from job to job for about three years and finally got back into the classroom, teaching 4 year olds. I was excited to have what is known as a developmental day class, meaning that I also had students identified with special needs. I had a great class and great coworkers but began to realize that I was sinking further and further into debt each year. Like I said making money as an early childhood teacher is difficult. So the decision to look elsewhere was made and I am happy to say that I have found other employment,but still within the realm of early childhood. I am over 4 classrooms at a small center. We opened for the new school year Monday and I am blessed to be working with like minded individuals who truly care about their students. I think that as I learn the ropes of the organization and support the faculty in their teaching it will be a great job that will allow me to use all my skills. All that to say, support education reform, teacher pay increases, and monies for early childhood education. Those of us in the field would greatly appreciate it.

Confessions of a Pinterest addict

I am not sure when it happened. It snuck up on me. One day I was happy in my lesson planning, home making, parenting little world and then somehow I found Pinterest. My life has never been the same. I honestly cannot remember how I ever planned anything for school without it. Parties, unbelievable that there was actually a time that I not only planned but carried out parties (there is pictorial proof) without the ideas gathered from Pinterest. I have some unimaginable amount of boards (over 100),most of them dedicated to school,but each family member also has there own board. Each holiday, interest and anything I remotely find funny. It is out of control. But, mind you, I am not asking for help. I intend to take as many people down with me as possible. If you have not already found this bliss called Pinterest please check it out. You can find me at www.pinterest.com/hlg4 Come on...it's fun

Summer is here! Today is the first official day of summer. And...bring on the haters, I'm not the biggest fan. I don't swim (there's a story there), and my house is air conditioner-less, only fans. I don't like extremes so too much heat and humidity..um no thank you. But spring and fall...big fan. What I do enjoy.....the teacher break. A time to spend with my kiddos before they get too old to want me to spend time with them and popsicles, and the river and that time of day before it gets dark, its still a bit warm, but not oppressing, the day is winding down, you may be grilling out and you can sit on your porch and watch the night come. Hands down a favorite. Doing this in the south where you get the bonus of lightning bugs and dogs running in the yard and kids playing nearby while you chat with your neighbors and family - unbeatable. So yeah Summer, you can hang around for a bit.

Easter egg hunt

I was told that letting my students hunt for Easter eggs this past Friday was wrong, politically incorrect. Maybe they are supposed to be called Holiday eggs? I don't know , I do know that they had fun. There were no tears, no drama and no complaints so, yeah,  I'd do it again!
#preschoolfun #stopbeingserious

Tools

Diversity

Lately I have been struggling with teaching diversity to my little ones. I am not only taking a class on Leading Anti-Bias Early Childhood Programs, it is a personal goal of mine on my PDP for my teaching license, something that my evaluator wants to see more of in my classroom. I have a diverse class, but I always do. I tend to focus on getting them to understand and appreciate the differences that they have by helping each other out in areas of need. For example, "-----, doesn't have the words yet to talk about how he wants that toy. How can we help him get what he wants without hurting/hitting his friends?" When half the class has developmental delays, topics like this tend to be the focus , not skin tone or hair color or the fact that her mom is white and her dad is black. Usually I wait for the topic to be brought up naturally by the children and address it then in a matter of fact way. I guess my feeling is if the general atmosphere in your class is one of a family and helping each other is it necessary to bring up skin tones and other racial indicators? A part of me want to protect their childhood innocence of love and trust as long as I can, without this topic. This is not to say that I don't have books, clothes, pictures,foods, dolls and other items that denote differences and culture, I'm just wondering what is appropriate, what's enough, what's developmentally appropriate? If the kids don't bring it up? Should I?

Lego Invasion

I know ....I know...someday I will miss this, that my kitchen table has been turned into an epic Lego battle.